Freshman 15 Sophomore 30

Final Draft of Post 5

In order to gain more understanding about why it may be difficult for people to adapt to a healthier lifestyle, I conducted a survey asking college students about their efforts to better health. I just asked the first two years of college students (freshmen and sophomores) because those are the main years in which adapting to college and being independent can be the biggest shift, especially in eating choices. I conducted a survey question that then categorized into two answers. The question I proposed was “What stops you from moving forward with your health goals?” and had two options for them to choose from: A=I love my junk food and Sweets or B=I cannot afford a healthy lifestyle. If they chose option A, the follow up question was asking why they ate junk food: because they were stressed, bored or both. If they chose option B, they then answered a follow up question asking how many times they ate out per week. I asked 30 college students in which 15 were freshman and the other 15 were sophomores. The results conveyed that funds were the main reason why people did not move forward toward achieving their personal health goals. Although bad eating habits can happen at any age, fresh college students struggle financially to be able to make healthier food choices, eating out seems to be convenient, junk food is addicting and consumed mostly because of stress; due to these unhealthy choices this results in minor to excessive weight gain.

When I conducted this survey, the results showed 19 people voting for option ‘B’ stating the reason they stop moving forward with their health goals are because they cannot afford a healthy lifestyle. The remaining voters were 11 people for option ‘A’, stating that their desire for junk food is the reason they stop moving forward toward achieving their health goals. For the follow up question, people who chose option ‘A’ resulted 5 people only eat junk because they are stressed; 3 people only eat junk because they are bored; and 3 people eat junk because they are stressed and bored. People who chose option ‘B’, resulted 9 people eat out 2–3 times per week; 5 people eat out 4–5 times per week; and 5 people eat out 6–7 times per week.

The results show with the majority of college students voting option ‘B’, that they perceive a healthy lifestyle as unaffordable. The follow up question was to show how often times people who have the goals to become healthy believe it is impossible when they eat out many times during the week. 19 people voted they could not afford a healthy lifestyle, however 10 out of those 19 people voted that they eat out more than 4 times a week. This goes to show that the healthier options may seem unaffordable because people think it would be an addition to what they already spend. Eating healthy would only be a shift of spending instead of an additional spending. This extends my thinking about my topic when discussing the reasons why money does not have to be an issue toward investing in your health.

The results shown for option ‘A’ explains how students desire junk food much more than their health however it is mostly because they are stressed. 5 out of 11 people stated they only ate junk because they were stressed. An additional 3 stated they only ate junk food because they were both stressed and bored. This deepens my thoughts that the stress from being in college and independent can be a huge factor toward gaining weight. These results also show that the reason people gain weight is because they use food as their comfort source.

In conclusion, my survey could have been more stable if I selected a random sample instead of people I know so that there can be a bigger scale of determining my thesis. After conducting my survey, I realize how college students struggle financially to be able to make healthier food choices because they do not know how to invest wisely, instead they spend their funds toward eating out more than 4 times per week. I also conclude from this survey strategy that junk seems to be convenient and a comfort source for students when they are stressed. Due to these unhealthy choices this results in minor to excessive weight gain, also known as the Freshman 15 and Sophomore 30.

Graham, Dan J, and Melissa N Laska. “Nutrition Label Use Partially Mediates the Relationship between Attitude toward Healthy Eating and Overall Dietary Quality among College Students.” NeuroImage, Academic Press, 10 Jan. 2012.

Related posts:

Most of us understand that in this generation, interaction is essential. Modern innovation is necessary for our daily lives. And also this makes our interaction over various individuals easier. As…

Our team is thrilled to introduce a unique decentralized slot demo, which is available here. But first you need to register. Note that the demo is only available for the desktop website, mobile is…

What Makes a High Equality Education?. The most important part about becoming a teacher is not just about teaching kids how to read, write, and do simple addition (as important….